Don't bother hoping for NFL Network

Quarterback Drew Brees leads the undefeated Saints against the Cowboys on Saturday night.

Dave Martin / AP

The scenario heading into this weekend’s NFL games was compelling: two 13-0 teams, each playing in an intriguing matchup. Only problem? Not being able to watch either one of them on TV.

It’s getting to be an old story. Every season at about this time NFL Network comes up with a game or two that every pro football fan wants to see, but since the network and Time Warner Cable can’t agree on terms, Time Warner won’t carry the channel. Time Warner serves most of Ventura County, so unless you have something like DirecTV, Dish Network or Verizon FiOS, you won’t get NFL Network.

Don’t expect that to change. Maybe ever. After all, the network has been showing live games — and therefore, the dispute has been going on — since 2006. The NFL ran full-page ads in major newspapers Thursday promoting their Colts-Jaguars and Cowboys-Saints games and lambasting Time Warner and other cable companies that don’t carry NFL Network. But if the two sides haven’t been able to get together in four years’ time, don’t hold your breath.

Time Warner seems to get along just fine without NFL Network, or at least that’s the message it conveys. For a while, the company touted in its advertising how many NFL games it does show. Now it doesn’t even do that.

That’s why it was surprising to see NFL Network rekindle the battle this week, because this war looks pretty much over. And everyone’s lost.

Bowls full of football: With Westlake getting snubbed and Oaks Christian losing, no local high school teams made it into the CIF State football bowl games for the first time, but there’s still plenty to watch this weekend on FSN Prime Ticket from The Home Depot Center.

Today, Modesto Christian plays Francis Parker at 4 p.m. for the Small Schools championship and Bellarmine Prep plays Oceanside at 8 in the Division I game. At noon Saturday, Serra (which upset Oaks Christian in overtime last week) takes on Marin Catholic in the Division III game, Servite plays Rocklin at 4 p.m. in the Division II bowl and at 8 p.m., Crenshaw plays De La Salle in the Open Division championship.

Other notes: Saturday’s Heisman Trophy presentation not only featured the closest vote in history, but it also gave ESPN the highest rating it’s ever received for the event. The telecast earned a 4.1 rating, 32 percent higher than last year. “Real Sports” on HBO next week (10 p.m. Tuesday) will have its annual roundtable, looking back on the stories the show covered this year. CBS College Sports Network will debut a documentary on legendary LSU running back Billy Cannon at 5 p.m. today on the 50th anniversary of his winning the Heisman Trophy. It should be a fascinating look at a reclusive figure, who did time in prison for counterfeiting, but then rebuilt his life and now oversees the dental program at the Louisiana State Penitentiary.

Marty Reid will be the lap-by-lap announcer for ESPN’s NASCAR coverage next season and Jerry Punch will return to being a pit reporter, a role he has helped define during his career. “With All Due Respect,” a one-hour special at 7 p.m. Sunday on CNN Headline News (now known as HLN) will look back at the top news stories of 2009. For reasons that are not immediately clear, Charles Barkley, Dennis Eckersley and Kyle Petty (all Turner Sports analysts) will be among those on the panel.

Byron Scott, former Laker and former New Orleans Hornets coach, is rejoining ESPN as an NBA analyst. No. 2 Texas will host No. 10 North Carolina in the first basketball game from Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, at 11 a.m. Saturday on ESPN.